


quiet with a side of vampire

by mysoulrunswithwolves



Series: love-bites and legwarmers [18]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, M/M, an open letter of apology to Oikawa Tooru: the fic, co-habitation hijinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysoulrunswithwolves/pseuds/mysoulrunswithwolves
Summary: Koutarou cannot believe that one person can be so lucky.Never before has he fallen so hard and so fast for another person, and get to watch said person go through the same process as well.Watching Terushima fall for him as he’s falling for Terushima is one of the most beautiful things he’s seen in this life, and he’s seen both Kuroo and Oikawa naked.alternatively: everyone goes home for break and things start to look bettertoday in love-bites and legwarmers: coffee, magnetic suns, and universal truths





	

It doesn’t take Yui very long to learn that Sawamura Daichi has, possibly, the worst timing out of any other person she’s ever met.

 

Yui has been studying for her theory of modern theatre final for what feels like seven years.

In reality, it’s been three hours, but her brain feels like mush and she honestly doesn’t care who decided which way was upstage and which way was downstage.

Maybe it’s time for a break.

Yui untangles herself from the nest of blankets she’s made on Suga’s bed and shuffles slowly out of his room. In the last few days of living in this house, it has become very apparent to her that literally everyone in this house is involved romantically with one another except for Daichi.

The poor boy.

She wanders into the living room to find Asahi and Nishinoya asleep on the couch, Noya stretched out across Ashai’s chest wearing nothing other than a tiny pair of booty shorts. Yui pauses to watch them breathe deeply for a moment, a faint smile tugging at her lips at the tender sight.

She sighs, feeling a pang of loneliness before shrugging it off and walking toward the kitchen looking for food. Instead she finds Yachi, Yamaguchi, Hinata and Kageyama sitting around the table in various states of undress, mugs of cocoa warming their hands.

“Michimiya-san!” Yachi squeaks happily, and Yui notices the rumpled mess of her hair and the way she’s wearing a giant, oversized sweater that must be Yamaguchi’s, her sleep shorts just barely visible under the hem of the sweater, her legs tucked to her chest and clad in a pair of knee-high woolen socks. “Do you want some hot cocoa? There’s more on the stove.”

“Sure,” she replies, moving over to the stove to ladle some cocoa into a waiting mug. It doesn’t escape her notice that Kageyama’s wearing nothing except a low-slung pair of sweatpants, or that Hinata has several fresh bite marks visible as the collar of his sweater slips off his shoulder.

Suga did not properly prepare her for the dynamics of this house.

“So,” she says, sitting down at the head of the table, “How has everyone’s finals week been going?”

Hinata and Kageyama just blink up at her, eyes hazy. Hinata shakes himself awake as he focuses on her, perking up to say, “I’ve actually just finished mine! Kageyama too.”

Well, that explains the rumpled state of his hair and the bite marks on his neck and shoulder.

“We’ve just finished ours too,” Yamaguchi says quietly as he takes a sip of his cocoa.

Yui studies Yachi’s neck closely, looking for marks. Quite suddenly and out of nowhere, Elmo jumps up and into Yachi’s lap, causing Yui and Yamaguchi to jump, Kageyama to yelp in surprise, and Hinata to make a strange “guwah!!” sound.

“I forgot Elmo was here,” Yamaguchi says as Yui tries to remember how to breathe.

Yachi just smiles down at Elmo and scratches behind her ears. Yui can’t be completely sure, but she’s pretty sure she hears Kageyama mutter something under his breath about not liking cats because you never know when they’re going to appear.

If only he realized that Yui felt the same way, just about vampires.

“I’m so glad to be done with biology,” Yachi says serenely, picking up the threads of the conversation again. “I would not have been able to do it without your help, Tadashi.”

The smile Yachi gives Yamaguchi as she reaches over to twine their fingers together makes Kageyama gag into his cocoa, which Yui finds ironic considering how often she’s walked in on him and Hinata making out in various areas of the house in _various_ states of undress over the last five days.

“So, is this like a normal thing? To feed out of celebration?” Yui asks, looking between Kageyama and Yamaguchi.

Hinata shrugs. “I don’t know about Yamaguchi, but Kageyama was so busy studying that he didn’t get a chance to feed.”

Yui looks at Yamaguchi and is met with a panicked, horrified stare.

“Feed?” asks Yachi, looking bewildered. Yui thinks nothing of her question until she sees the look of panic on Yamaguchi’s face growing by the second and it all clicks together that Yachi doesn’t know about vampires or that Yamaguchi is one.

“Yeah!” Chirps Hinata helpfully, and Yui feels like the timing could not be worse. “Kageyama and Yamaguchi are both vampires!”

“W-what?” Yachi squeaks, looking between each of them. Yui watches as her eyes land on the marks in Hinata’s neck and her eyes widen with understanding. “You’re…a v-vampire?”

Yamaguchi turns to meet Yachi’s betrayed gaze and Yui can see the regret and sorrow all over his face. “I was going to tell you, Hitoka I _swear_ , but I was waiting for the right time and it never seems like the right time so I just kept putting it off and _I’m so sorry_.”

“Hey guys,” Daichi says, walking into the room. “Everyone finished with their finals?”

Yui has learned over the last few days that Sawamura Daichi has the worst timing she’s ever known a person to have.

***

Koutarou cannot believe that one person can be so lucky.

Never before has he fallen so hard and so fast for another person, and get to watch said person go through the same process as well.

Watching Terushima fall for him as he’s falling for Terushima is one of the most beautiful things he’s seen in this life, and he’s seen both Kuroo _and_ Oikawa naked.

 

He’s thinking that maybe a zombie every once in a while isn’t such a bad thing.

 

 

Koutarou should be studying for his literature for adolescents class, but he’s distracted by something different every five minutes.

At first it’s the low murmur of the students around them.

Then it’s by the general feel of misery and despair that permeates the air of the HBLL and generally, makes it hard to muster up the motivation to study for a final that he’s probably not going to pass anyway. Who could possibly remember when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was first published anyway? (It’s June 26, 1997 Koutarou actually does know that.)

He’d much rather spend the last few days of finals week tangled up between soft sheets with Terushima. He's not going to see him for the entire break, and has to fight the urge to tow Terushima back to his room and hold him hostage until they're forced apart for winter break. 

It doesn’t help that he’s sitting at one of the dozens of mahogany tables in the aptly named _‘no shhhh zone’_ of the Harold B. Lee library and Terushima, seated across from him with shoulders slouched over a textbook, is doing a stunning impression of a student who cares about his grades.

“Hey ‘Shima?”

It takes a moment for Terushima to pull his head away from his applied physics textbook, and when he does it’s with the look of someone that’s only giving you thirty percent of their attention. Koutarou can practically see the formulas and equations floating across the black space behind Terushima’s caramel eyes.

“Yeah?” His eyes focus a bit more on Koutarou’s eyes.

It’s on the tip of his tongue, the desire to say _‘let’s stop with the studying and go back to my house and watch movies for the rest of the day,’_ but he can see the stressed furrow of Terushima’s eyebrows, the way he’s squinting at Koutarou almost in annoyance at being interrupted. He takes in the dozens of pages of copious, meticulously taken notes about stars and their properties and realizes he can’t be selfish in this moment.

“You’re pretty,” he says instead, and it’s not what he wanted to say, but he can try and memorize the rise of young adult literature and its impact on the canon of adolescent literature for another hour.

Terushima looks at him a bit blankly, for long enough that Koutarou is regretting ever interrupting Terushima in the first place. He wishes, for once, that he could manage to say the right fucking thing the first time. He shouldn’t have ever said anything, should have let Terushima keep studying in peace.

All at once Terushima bursts into bright peals of laughter that have several heads turning their way, although no one can tell them to be quiet since it’s the _‘no shhhh zone’_.

“Thanks, Bokuto,” he chokes between giggles. “You’re pretty too.”

Terushima turns back to his chapter on black holes, but the furrow between his eyebrows is smaller and his shoulders aren’t curled in on themselves anymore.

Koutarou feels his lips curve into a smile. Maybe he can say the right thing, every once in a while. 

***

Yui doesn’t consider herself an expert in _fixing_ things. In fact, she’d much rather things not break in the first place.

 _Still,_ she thinks as Yachi cries on her shoulder, _it is satisfying to think that maybe this is a problem I can fix._

Yachi had managed to pull off a rather impressive exit just moments after Daichi had walked into the kitchen, gathering up Elmo in her sweater paw hands and marching from the kitchen downstairs with enough composure that the only sign of her distress was her barely quivering lip.

Yui had only spared a quick glance with Yamaguchi before following Yachi to Yamaguchi’s room.

So she holds Yachi while she cries her way through the feelings of betrayal and confusion and hands her tissues in a steady stream of 3-ply comfort.

“M-michimiya-san?” Yachi hiccups, fingers buried in Elmo’s soft fur.

“Yes?”

“Do you th-think you could get me some water?”

Yui nods. “Of course,” she says, scooting off the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

She nearly runs into Daichi with a full glass of water in her hands as she’s leaving the kitchen and barely manages to avoid spilling water all over the both of them.

“Michimiya thank heavens,” he says, his hands coming up to grip her arms in an attempt to steady her.

Yui looks up into his panicked eyes. “What’s the matter?”

Daichi looks, if possible, more frantic as he runs a hand through his hair. “Yamaguchi is _freaking out_ , and I don’t know what to do to fix it, really.”

“Yeah,” says Yui, looking down into the water in her hands and trying not to think about how _cute_ Daichi is when he’s frazzled. “I’m downstairs with Yachi in pretty much the same situation.”

“Whenever there were problems in the house I never had to fix them because Sug—” He cuts himself off, eyes widening a bit in surprise as Yui stares up at him steadily.

“I understand,” she says softly when Daichi fails to complete his own sentence. “I think I have an idea of how to fix it.”

It’s a visible effort on Daichi’s part to regain his composure, shutter away the hurt in his eyes. “What can I do to help?” he asks, composure back in place and nothing but firm resolve in his eyes.

 

Fifteen minutes later Yui is standing next to Daichi in the hallway, surreptitiously watching as Yamaguchi and Yachi fall into each other’s arms with whispered _‘I’m sorrys’_ and happy sounding squeaks.

“You’re amazing.”

Yui looks up at Daichi as he turns away from the display in the living room to face her.

“Thanks,” Yui replies, a bit confused by the sudden compliment.

“I don’t think I’ve even seen Suga fix something that quickly.”

Daichi’s so earnest as he says this that he doesn’t even hesitate when Suga’s name rolls off his tongue.

Yui fails to bite back her giggle. “It was nothing, really,” she says, hoping that she isn’t blushing _too_ bad under the weight of Daichi’s praise.

“Yes, it is something,” he insists, stepping a bit closer to her. “How did you do it?”

Yui shrugs. It hadn’t been that hard, honestly. Once Yachi had calmed down from the shock of it all she’d been very easy to console, and she wasn’t very good at being angry for long either. “All it took was me gently suggesting that she explain to Yamaguchi how she felt and why she was upset, and the rest sorted itself out.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“It is, honestly,” Yui states, a bit surprised that Daichi doesn’t realize the dynamic that Yachi and Yamaguchi have together. “They’re really good at communicating with one another,” she explains, “so I figured that once they actually sat down and talked it out things would fall into place.” She crosses her arms across her chest. “Simple.”

“I guess,” Daichi starts, then pauses for a moment, seemingly gathering his thoughts. “I guess I never realized how much of a difference communication makes in a relationship.”

 _That’s obvious,_ Yui wants to say. “Communication is an important skill to have in order to have a successful relationship,” she says instead.

“A skill I lack, it would seem,” Daichi says, tone full of self-aware bitterness.

Yui smiles at him, hoping to ease the crease between his eyebrows. He really is quite scary when he’s scowling like this. “All you need is a little practice.”

His eyes flick to hers, then away, then back to hers where they stay. “Can you help me?” he asks softly, almost as if he’s afraid she’ll laugh at his honest request.

“Of course!” And when she smiles it feels like the sun has taken up residence in her chest.

***

Kei has never been in love.

Well, that’s not exactly true.

Tsukishima Kei has never been in love with anyone other than Yamaguchi Tadashi until now.

Being in love with Kuroo Tetsurou is something that nothing in this life, no experience or prior knowledge, could have ever prepared him for.

Kuroo sweeps into his life like the world’s worst hurricane full of bad jokes and perpetual sex hair. Kuroo walked into his life, managed to smash every wall Kei had ever built around himself to pieces and did it, _is still doing it_ , all with a smirk and a shimmy of those beautiful, flawless hips.

Kei loves every second of it.

He doesn’t, however, enjoy how closed off Kuroo remains to him.

It’s hard to pin down what it is, _exactly_ , that gives him the feeling that Kuroo is still holding back, but the feeling is there. It’s lodged somewhere between the peaks of his happiness, always tempering the bouts of affection he feels for Kuroo with a steady dose of caution. Kei doesn’t want to worry about it anymore, but the feeling won’t go away, so he decides, almost all at once, to do something about it.

 

It’s two days before winter break and they’re wrapped up together in the dark of Kuroo’s upstairs bedroom.

Kuroo’s house is quiet, Kenma working two floors below them, like always, Bokuto’s out with his new boy, and the rest of them are out on some ill-advised attempt to get Oikawa and Iwaizumi back together.

Kei kind of wishes he could be present to watch that train wreck as it happens.

Kuroo’s talking quietly about his most recent, and last, final and Kei focuses back in to what Kuroo is saying.

“...so I told my professor ‘I don’t care if it’s sexist or not, this is a women’s studies class, it’s all about sexist behavior.’ Suffice it to say, she was not pleased by that.”

“Hey, Kuroo?” Kei interrupts, making a mental note to ask Kuroo what his major is a different time.

“Yeah, Tsukki?” Kuroo presses closer, legs tangling with Kei’s under the sheets.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Kei asks, diving right in without any preamble. He’s never seen the benefit of beating around the bush.

Kuroo stills around him, the hand that was lazily rubbing up and down along his back stalling in shock.

“What do you mean, Tsukki?” Kuroo asks, going for nonchalant, but he’s betrayed by his body’s reaction to the question.

Kei takes a deep breath, looks up at Kuroo from under his lashes, not quite able to make out his features in the shadows of the room. “I mean exactly what I asked.” When Kuroo offers no statement, Kei elaborates, speaking slowly so that he has time to measure his words before he says them. “I have this lingering feeling that you’re not telling me something.”

Kei listens closely. He waits for the hitch in breathing that people have when they’re about to lie, listens to the steady rhythm of Kuroo’s heart as it picks up its pace ever so slightly. He is so prepared for the lie that when Kuroo tells him the truth it shocks him more.

“You’re right, I am holding something back,” Kuroo says, softly and evenly.

This time it’s Kei who stiffens.

“I’ve been trying to find the right way to say this, and nothing I come up with sounds any better than just coming out and saying it, so...” Kuroo trails off, gathering his thoughts.

All at once Kei’s brain blanks and his stomach drops.

Kuroo is going to end this.

Kei has just realized how much he adores this boy and he’s going to end it, going to walk away just like everyone else in his life and Kei will be on his own again, lost and confused and looking for someone to care about him.

“Would you like to spend winter break with me and my family?”

Wait, what?

Kei stops breathing. Surely he heard that wrong. “What?” He asks, just to be sure that he did, in fact, hear Kuroo right.

Kuroo starts to show signs of obvious panic and the words spill out almost faster than he can process them. “I want you to come back with me and spend break with my family but like, only if you want too. If you’d rather stay here that’s totally _fine,_ Tsukki, it won’t upset me. I just know that you don’t have any family around and that most everyone in your house is leaving for the break so I thought it might be nice...” he trails off when Kei doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even move an inch.

It takes him a minute to restart his brain; to step away from the edge of panic, away from the idea that Kuroo is breaking up with him, to fully comprehend that it’s the furthest thing away from a breakup.

Kei’s heart soars, lifting up and away as he realizes that Kuroo _wants_ him. Wants him to meet his family.

“Tsukki?” Kuroo asks, so tentatively and cautiously that Kei wants to kiss him.

So he does.

Kuroo gasps in shock, clearly not expecting Kei to kiss him. “I thought you were going to break up with me,” Kei says between kisses.

Kuroo pulls him close, arms wrapping tight around Kei as he kisses him long and slow and deep. “Breaking up with you is the _last_ thing I want to do,” he manages to gasp in between kisses.

Kei feels a smile creeping across his lips, Kuroo kissing away all of his worries.

“Good.”

“So, is that a yes? You’ll come?” Kuroo pulls away, just slightly, to look into Kei’s eyes.

“Yes, you idiot. I’ll come.”

***

The house is quiet.

Alarmingly so.

It’s been three days since winter break started, and Koushi is _bored._

All he wants, really, is to climb into bed with Akaashi and not move for like, two days, but Akaashi is home with his family for the break and Koushi is here.

He’s honestly surprised that he managed to stay in his own house for three whole days before he missed Akaashi so much that he jimmied the lock on their front door and started sleeping in his room, breathing in Akaashi’s scent still on the sheets.

It’s not creepy. It’s _not._

The front door slams and footsteps sound against the hardwood floors as someone walks toward Akaashi’s room.

It’s not weird that he’s staying in his boyfriend’s house over break, _it’s not, b_ ut he’s pretty sure Akaashi said everyone was going home...so who is coming toward Akaashi’s room?

 

To: **Lover Mine**

...babe are you sure nobody else stayed over the break?

 

Akaashi responds so quickly Koushi wonders how exciting life with his family actually is.

 

From: **Lover Mine**

I’m sure.

 

To: **Lover Mine**

THEN WHY IS SOMEONE WALKING TOWARD YOUR ROOM RN

 

From: **Lover Mine**

OMG LEAVE NOW

 

Koushi’s halfway out the window when the door opens. He looks over his shoulder only to find Oikawa looking at him, eyebrow raised, from the doorway.

“Aren’t you a bit old to be sneaking out of the house, Kou-chan?”

Koushi sputters. “You’re not supposed to be here! I thought you were going to kill me or something!”

Oikawa shrugs. “You’re too pretty to kill.”

Koushi squints at him, pulling his leg back inside and shutting the window. “Thank you?” He checks his phone, seeing the seven texts from Akaashi asking if he’d been murdered or otherwise horribly killed. He shoots off a quick text saying he’s okay, that it’s just Oikawa as the man himself walks into the room and collapses on Akaashi’s neatly made bed.

“Why are you here, anyway?” Oikawa asks. “You do have your own bed, do you not?”

Koushi groans and flops down next to Oikawa. “My family decided to move to Pairs and I didn’t want to deal with the cost of flying out there for two weeks.”

Oikawa sighs next to him. “Okay, and you’re in my house because?”

Koushi rolls onto his side to face Oikawa. “I missed Akaashi,” he grumbles.

Oikawa hums in reply, which is much less of a response than he was expecting. He watches Oikawa lay there in silence, eyes drifting shut as he breathes steadily. Koushi studies his profile, noticing the dark circles under his eyes, the haggard set of his face, even in relaxation, and the waxy sheen of his skin.

He looks like shit.

“Oikawa, you look like shit.”

Oikawa cracks an eye, managing to glare rather impressively with one eye at Koushi. “That’s a bit mean, don’t you think?”

Koushi hears a snort slip out of his mouth. “When was the last time you fed, Oikawa?” he asks in response, not answering Oikawa’s question.

Oikawa throws an arm across his eyes. “I don’t really know,” he mumbles. “I’ve been getting blood from Bo when he’s around, but he’s been so busy with Terushima that he’s hardly home.”

Koushi’s eyes tighten in suspicion. “Oikawa, how long?” His words are soft but it’s no longer a question.

Oikawa rolls to face him, his arm reaching out to brush a finger against Koushi’s cheek. “Somewhere around two weeks.”

Koushi’s eyes widen in horror. “Oikawa that’s _too long_.”

“I _know_ ,” Oikawa says, managing to look offended, hurt and shocked all at once. “I come from one of the oldest vampire families in the country of _course_ I know how bad it is.”

“Then...why?”

“I told you!” he half shouts, clearly distressed as tears well in his eyes. “Bokuto’s been busy and I haven’t been feeding as well as I should but,” he cuts off, his voice lowering to a whimper. “Iwa-chan is who I usually feed from and he’s gone now and I don’t _want_ to feed from anyone else but now I have to and I _hate it,_ Kou-chan.”

Koushi nods in understanding, scooting across the sheets until he’s able to wind his arms around Oikawa’s neck in a loose embrace, offering comfort.

Oikawa presses his face against his cheek, pulling him closer so he can nuzzle into Koushi’s neck.

He feels Oikawa inhale deeply against his skin seconds before lips press gently to the column of his throat, leaving a brush of warm, pleasant sparks across his skin.

Koushi tries to breathe evenly, wishes he could text Akaashi and ask him if he’d be mad if he kissed Oikawa.

He probably would. At least when he wasn’t around to play along.

Still, he knows that at the very least, Oikawa needs to feed, so he tangles his fingers in Oikawa’s hair and hums in contentment as fangs graze lightly against his skin.

“Kou-chan,” Oikawa murmurs against his skin. “You smell so _good_.”

Koushi sighs, but it sounds like a moan. “You can feed, Oikawa, it’s okay.”

There’s another sharp inhale against his neck, and that’s all the warning he gets before Oikawa bites down, _hard._

 _It’s been a while_ , Koushi thinks blearily, _since I fed someone other than Akaashi_. Not even Daichi has asked him for blood since their fight, so he’s not prepared for the feeling of Oikawa drinking greedily from him.

It’s unlike any other high he’s ever had from a bite, ever. Instead of the blissed out, heady feeling that he usually gets with Akaashi, Oikawa’s bite sets him on fire, his blood thrumming through his veins. He feels too big for his skin; its tight and heavy against his bones and he wants to feel Oikawa’s hands raking down his spine and digging into his muscles.

He gasps as Oikawa rolls on top of him, his hands roaming down his arms to grip Koushi’s hips tightly before traveling up his sides, fingers pressing hot and heavy against his skin as they work their way under his shirt.

Koushi is burning, alive in a way he’s never felt before as he hitches a leg around Oikawa’s waist, moaning at the sensation of Oikawa’s hips against his.

Against his neck, Oikawa stills, fangs slowly retracting and his tongue replacing them as he slowly laps up the last few drops of Koushi’s blood against his skin and starting the healing. His hands remain where they are, gently tracing the lines of Koushi’s abdomen in warm, searing patterns.

It takes Koushi a minute to wind down from the effects of the bite. He’s never experienced a bite that _intense_. It doesn’t help that Oikawa is still pressing warm, open-mouthed kisses to his neck, jaw, and ear.

“Better?” he finally manages to gasp, breathing still not in check.

Oikawa just hums against his cheek as his lips work their way to Koushi’s.

Whatever composure he’d managed to recover flew right out of the way as Oikawa teased his lips apart to kiss him deep and slow. Koushi dimly registers the faint metallic taste of the kiss and somewhere in the back of his mind he understands that Oikawa is just replenishing him, just making sure he doesn’t suffer from the sudden loss of blood.

But that is lost in the wave of heat that washes over his body as one of Oikawa’s hands trails down his hip, slides along the length of his thigh, until it reaches his knee where Koushi still has it hitched around Oikawa’s waist.

He moans when Oikawa presses against him more heavily, his tongue sweeping through Koushi’s mouth in warm, slick strokes.

Without warning, Oikawa jerks back and rolls off Koushi. He shivers at the loss of heat that had been radiating off Oikawa. “What’s wrong?” he manages to ask, despite his heat addled brain.

“You’re not,” he starts, then abruptly cuts himself off. “Never mind.”

Koushi feels clarity and sense return all at once at the distress in Oikawa’s voice. “I’m not Iawizumi,” he states, placing his hand on Oikawa’s cheek and forcing him to look at him.

“No,” Oikawa whispers. “You’re not.”

Koushi nods in understanding, not surprised in the least as Oikawa’s face crumples in front of him and tears spill from his eyes. Koushi pulls him back in, letting Oikawa bury his face into Koushi’s neck again, this time to offer comfort instead of blood.

“Tooru, you need to tell him.”

Oikawa’s only response is a pained whimper.

Koushi presses on. “We both know that I’m not enough of what you need. As fine as I am to keep feeding you, we both know that feeding from Iwaizumi is what you really crave.”

Oikawa makes a broken, whimper of a sob. “Koushi how do I fix something that’s been broken for so long?”

Koushi pauses, searching for the right words. “Broken bones are twice as strong once they’re healed, Oikawa. Don’t be so afraid.”

Oikawa chokes out a sob, and Koushi runs his hands in soothing circles across the long lines of Oikawa’s back.

“I know,” he finally manages to say once he’s calmed down a bit. “I know I need to tell him.”

Koushi pulls back slightly to wipe the tears off Oikawa’s face. “You’re not going to be happy until you do, no matter what the outcome.”

Oikawa looks at him, his arms tightening around Koushi’s waist in thanks. “I wonder what would have happened if you’d met me first.”

“Like, before I met Akaashi, you mean?” Koushi struggles to keep up with the seemingly random subject change.

Oikawa nods against the pillows. “Do you think we would have been good together?”

“Oh undoubtedly,” Koushi says frankly, feeling the truth in his words. “We would have probably run off to Canada by now and be eating poutine on a riverbank somewhere.”

Oikawa snorts a laugh. “I hate poutine.”

“Well then,” Koushi laughs. “It’s a good thing I met Akaashi first and you have Iwaizumi, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.”

They fall silent, Koushi running his hands through Oikawa’s silky hair for several quiet moments.

“Hey Kou-chan?” Oikawa asks, eyes serious as they stare into Koushi’s.

“Yeah?” He asks, because it’s clear Oikawa is waiting for a response of some kind.

“I’m glad you’re my friend,” he says quietly.

Koushi feels his lips stretch into a wide smile. “I’m glad we’re friends too, Tooru.”

Oikawa sighs, a small smile passing across his lips.

Koushi’s mind replays a part of their conversation from earlier, reminding him of a question he had for Oikawa.

“Why are you here, Oikawa?” He says, and Oikawa’s eyes snap open. “I thought you were going home for the break.”

Oikawa sighs, mouth pinching in distaste before speaking. “I _was_ home. But my family is so tightly bound with Iwaizumi’s that they live in the mansion next to ours, so he was _everywhere_.”

Koushi feels his eyebrows raise in disbelief. “So, you came back here, to _avoid_ Iwaizumi?”

“When you say it like that it sounds pathetic.”

“It _is_ pathetic, Tooru.” Koushi cannot believe how stubborn Oikawa is. “I can’t believe you’re missing the holidays with your family in order to avoid him.”

Oikawa frowns, his eyes drifting to the side. “My parents don’t celebrate the holidays, and they barely notice if I’m there or not anyway, so I’m better off here anyway, really.” He shrugs. “Besides, now I can keep you company.”

Koushi frowns, but doesn’t push it. “Okay then,” he says instead. His stomach chooses that moment to remind him that he’s actually quite hungry. “Want to keep me company while I make some food?”

“Of course, Kou-chan.”

***

Kenma honestly has no idea there are other people in the house until he wanders into the kitchen for a late-night cup of coffee.

Rather than going back home and spending the break with his family, he’s elected to stay at school and get ahead of several design projects for the next semester.

Besides, it’s better than watching Kuroo walk around their neighborhood with Tsukishima attached to him like a third limb.

Not that he like, _cares_ or anything.

He’s actually quite proud of Kuroo for ceasing his habit of bi-weekly one-night stands long enough to develop actual feelings for another human.

It’s been good for Bokuto, too.

It’s been good for everyone, really. Especially for him.

When he materializes into the kitchen, too lazy to walk up the stairs, he nearly has a heart attack as both Suga and Oikawa scream from where they’re sitting and eating at the table.

“Kenma!” Shrieks Suga. “How long have you been here?”

Kenma blinks at him, remaining calm outwardly but trying to slow the frantic pace of his heart at the scare. “I’ve been here the whole break, Koushi.”

Suga and Oikawa exchange shocked looks.

“We had no idea you were staying here over break,” Oikawa says, eyes still a bit too wide.

“Koushi are you cheating on Keiji with Tooru?” he asks bluntly.

Suga pales, a horrified look crossing his face. “No! Of course not!”

“Kou-chan’s been here the whole time!” Oikawa rushes to add. “I just got back earlier tonight.”

“Okay.” Kenma nods, glad he doesn’t have to hide anything from his friends.

Suga places a hand to his heart. “Jeez, Kozume-kun. I didn’t know you could be so scary.”

Oikawa lets out an ungraceful snort. “Kenma is the most terrifying of us all, especially when you unplug his PS4.”

Kenma just shrugs and walks over to the coffee pot, filling a large mug to the brim and taking a sip, feeling the caffeine tingle through his system after a few moments.

Suga’s phone vibrates against the table and he picks it up, letting out a happy chirp of surprise when he reads the text.

“Would either of you mind if I told Hinata to come and stay with us?” Suga asks, fingers already working against the screen of his phone. “Apparently he’s alone in our house over the break and is craving people.”

“Who?” Kenma asks, because he can’t place the name to a face.

“Oh, you mean Chibi-chan?” Oikawa asks at the same time, grinning hugely. “Tell him to come on over! He’ll liven things up.”

Suga just hums and continues to shoot off texts at a speed Kenma finds quite impressive.

“I’m still not sure who you’re talking about, Koushi,” Kenma says, sighing when they both ignore him.

Fine. He’s always been good at waiting, anyway.

 

He doesn’t have to wait that long.

Half an hour later, just as Kenma is finishing off the last of his coffee, Hinata Shouyou bursts through the front door and into his life and nothing is the same again.

The whole room seems to light up with him in it, his flaming head of hair like some kind of beacon for light and joy.

Kenma wants to hate it, but finds he can’t.

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that Kozume Kenma hates most people by default, and tolerates a select few by choice.

Hinata _should_ be one of those people, the kind he hates. Hinata is loud, bright, and switches from one subject in conversation to the next with a speed that leaves most people around him with whiplash.

Despite all of this, Kenma finds himself slowly gravitating toward the magnetic pull of Hinata’s laughter like he’s a living, breathing sun.

It’s intoxicating, this happy warmth. He’s helpless against the gravity.

“You’re Kozume-san, right?” Hinata asks, warm brown eyes shining up at Kenma as he bounces lightly on his feet.

“Just Kenma,” he replies, wanting to hear his first name as it falls off Hinata’s tongue.

“Oh, okay. Kenma then.” Hinata beams. “You can call me Shouyou, if you want,” he says, almost like an afterthought.

“Kozume-kun,” Suga says sweetly. “Would it be alright if Hinata stayed in the extra room in the basement?”

Kenma’s about to say no, that he needs the quiet to get his work done. But he makes the mistake of looking into Shouyou’s warm eyes and hears himself say, “Yeah, okay,” before he can think otherwise.

“Wonderful!” Suga beams at him, although Kenma barely spares him a glance before abruptly turning and walking toward the basement stairs.

He thinks maybe he could get used to the sound of Shouyou’s feet following him.

**Author's Note:**

> next time in love-bites and legwarmers: winter break pt. 2, mending, and new years resolutions
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr](https://mysoulrunswithwolves.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/wolfstar_soul)


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